NYC Vignettes: The Cloisters

Effigies in the Gothic Chapel Glass Gallery, The Cloisters

The first time I visited NYC with my husband, we simply ran out of time before we had a chance to trek north to The Cloisters, a part of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.  This time one of my top priorities was to remedy that oversight.   I took the subway train to the 190th Street Station and disembarked to face a lovely 10- or 15-minute walk through the grounds, which overlook the Hudson River, to the Cloisters Museum entrance.

The Cloisters’ grounds

The Cloisters Museum entrance

The  Cloisters is a collection of medieval art and architecture.  The various cloister walks make you feel as if you were back in a medieval monastery or nunnery.  I loved the stained glass windows and their reflections, the massive and somber stone walls, the unicorn tapestries and madonna statues.

One of the pillared cloisters

Langon Chapel

Stained glass reflections

Another of the cloisters

And as stunning as the art and architecture was, the most impressive part of my visit was a sound installation in the Fuentiduena Chapel.  This celebration of sacred music, called The Forty Part Motet by Janet Cardiff, featured the Choir of England’s Salisbury Cathedral.  Each voice was recorded separately and then played back through 40 speakers placed in a oval-shape.  The music, a blend of sounds, resounded and resonated in the small chapel.  I had first read about this special sound exhibition in Gwarlingo, a blog I follow.  The way she describes her experience listening to Cardiff’s work inspired me to make a special effort to include The Cloisters on my NYC itinerary.  That post also includes a link to the music, and I urge you to take 10 minutes or so to listen to the full cycle.  The music is the best part of today’s post, I assure you!

Janet Cardiff’s The Forty Part Motet

I did manage to do a little sketching on this trip, and here is my work from The Cloisters:

Kneeling Virgin, The Cloisters

On-site pencil sketch, The Cloisters

Watercolor sketch of the Kneeling Virgin

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Haarlem Impressions 2: Grote Kerk

“I soon realized that no journey carries one far unless, as it extends into the world around us, it goes an equal distance into the world within in.”
— Lillian Smith

Interior, Grote Kerk, Haarlem

Certainly one of the things that helps to put us in the frame of mind for an inward, spiritual journey is the awesome architecture of soaring cathedrals.  I suppose one could plan a trip doing nothing but visiting the churches and holy places of the world.  (Is there even a European city or village without a church at its center?)  I find their interiors — with the exalted vaulted ceilings, filtered light entering through stained glass windows, and whispered conversations — an uplifting environment.  And I’m moved to try to capture this expansiveness in my photos of these spaces.

While in Haarlem, I stepped away from the busy outdoor market in the church square and entered the vast interior of the church itself.  Here is what I saw:

Vaulted cedar ceiling

Side aisle, columns, arches, chandeliers

Choir stalls, rood, organ

Choir stalls

Soft reflections from the stained glass windows

Gravestones on the floor

Detail of gravestone

Saint Nicholas Day

Stained glass window of Saint Nicholas, Christ Church Cathedral, Vancouver, B.C.

Today is Saint Nicholas Day on the Julian calendar.  When I was growing up, my family celebrated Saint Nicholas Day on December 6th (which is the feast day on the Gregorian calendar).  We each put a brown paper lunch bag at our place on the kitchen table before we went to bed on December 5th.  When we woke in the morning, the bag held peanuts and candy treats from St. Nicholas.

I saw this stained glass window of Saint Nicholas at the Christ Church Cathedral in downtown Vancouver, B. C.  Saint Nicholas is the patron saint of sailors, and the window is a memorial to those Royal Canadian Navy who lost their lives in WWII. The interior of Christ Church Cathedral rather resembles an ark with its great ceiling beams of Douglas fir and ceiling of cedar planks.  It was an impressive structure.

Interior, Christ Church Cathedral, Vancouver, B.C.

Arched ceiling gave the feeling of being in an ark

Custom-built organ, Christ Church Cathedral

 

The Most Beautiful Libraries in the World

More fancy digs in the middle of Texas! The Armstrong Browning Library at Baylor University in Waco, Texas.

When I was doing research to plan for our Texas road trip, I learned that the world’s largest collection of the works and memorabilia of Robert Browning and Elizabeth Barrett Browning is housed at the Armstrong Browning Library on the campus of Baylor University in Waco, Texas.  We passed by Waco on the way to Dallas, so I was determined to stop and check out this amazing library.

The Browning collection began with the personal collection of one of Baylor’s English professors, Dr. A. Joseph Armstrong, and it has grown over time.  The Browning Library is a lovely Italianate building with 62 stained-glass windows.  It is one of the most beautiful libraries I’ve visited.

When I mentioned the library to my friend, Lynne, she passed along to me a couple of websites devoted to the most beautiful libraries of the world.  You can link to them here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/10/19/most-beautiful-libraries_n_768612.html#slide_image and here: http://www.bookbrowse.com/blogs/editor/index.cfm/2011/2/28/The-Worlds-Most-Beautiful–Unique-Libraries.  I was pleased to see two of Seattle’s libraries represented:  the Central branch of the Seattle Public Libraries and Suzzallo Library at the University of Washington.  I guess I’ll have to add making pilgrimages to some of the other libraries to my life list of things to do before I die!

One of the rooms of the Armstrong Browning Library at Baylor U

Stained-glass window celebrating Browning's Pied Piper of Hamlin

Another of the 62 stained-glass windows in the Browning Library

The Armstrong Browning Library

Contemplative Spaces

“Benedictine spirituality is more intent on developing thinking people than it is on developing pious people.”
     — from Wisdom Distilled from the Daily:  Living the Rule of St. Benedict Today by Joan Chittister

"Contemplation is the pursuit of meaning." Joan Chittister

 St. John’s University was a beautiful environment, which fostered reflection and contemplation.  It was the perfect place for our retreat. 

The morning light streams through the facade of stained glass, St. John's Abbey Church

Interior, St. John's Abbey Church

A short tunnel leads to the monastery's private, enclosed garden

Campus trees in the morning sun

I hiked 1-1/2 miles along a lakeshore trail to the small Stella Maris Chapel

The Great Hall, St. John's University

Patterned reflections in a hallway at the Abbey Guest House

 

“To empty one’s mind of all thought and refill the void with a spirit greater than oneself, is to extend the mind into a realm not accessible by conventional processes of reason.”
     — from The Language of Drawing by Edward Hill